Habit forming
A couple weeks back I spent the day with John Parker of Ellisville and talked to him about his hobby. His addiction, you could say.
“You heard of that white powder people get addicted to? This black powder is way worse,” said Parker, who has shot his replica 3-inch Ordnance Rifle over 300 times since he picked it up last year.
It’s not a cheap hobby, as each salute charge is 8-ounces of Cannon grade or FFF black powder (which translates to about a $10 bill that goes up in smoke each time it goes “boom”) not to mention the cost of the gun ($15K), uniforms, transpo, oh, and a crew of guys willing to help you work it for free.
But it is a beautiful sight to behold.
More in my column at Guns.com.